Achor

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Achor - meaning trouble in Hebrew, is the name of a valley in the vicinity of Jericho. Eusebius (in Onomasticon) and Jerome (in Book of Sites and Names of Hebrew Places) implied that they thought it was a valley north of Jericho, but in modern times the valley is often considered to be the wadi el-Kelt, a deep ravine located to Jericho's south.

The Book of Joshua claims that it was named in consequence of the problems the Israelites had as a result of Achan's immoral theft; however, most biblical scholars and the increasing majority of archaeologists regard the narrative about Achan as an aetiological myth, and instead suspect that it gained this name for another reason, possibly having it well before the 15th century.

The phrase valley of trouble is eminently proverbial, and hence when the Book of Isaiah and Book of Hosea use the term - the valley of trouble, a place for herds to lie down in (Isaiah 65:10), the valley of trouble for a door of hope (Hosea 2:15) - it is most likely used in this sense, rather than as a reference to the geographic location of the valley of Achor.

[edit] References

This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897. This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.